Managing a special report: Reflections on the genesis of the Austrian assessment on health, demography and climate change

Abstract

National assessment reports provide a broadly accepted scientific base, for instance for climate policy-making. In this Design Report, we reflect on the 18-month process of managing the Austrian Special Report Health, Demography and Climate Change involving more than 60 authors. We discuss the efficacy of management tools and the extent to which the assessment resonated in the policy arena.The Austrian Panel on Climate Change (APCC) was established in 2016 for the purpose of issuing comprehensive assessment reports and special reports applying standards and procedures like the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). All of these assessment reports essentially aim at providing an authoritative synthesis of policy-relevant knowledge, with an emphasis on undisputed statements. In this article, we describe the one-and-a-half-year process of generating the scientific assessment for the Austrian Special Report Health, Demography and Climate Change (ASR18). 60 authors from different disciplinary backgrounds were involved in the writing process, 30 stakeholders were consulted and raised relevant issues in two workshops, and two formal scientific review loops yielded more than 2,000 comments. From the perspective of the process coordinators, we reflect on the efficacy of management tools to achieve a credible, relevant and legitimate outcome. Finally, we outline the extent to which we see our Special Report as an effective contribution to incorporating scientific knowledge into policy debates.